The Australian Grand Prix Corporation believes next year's race will be a success despite the retirement of F1 megastar Michael Schumacher, writes MICHAEL LYNCH.

No Schu, but 'fans will come'

Australian Grand Prix chief Tim Bamford was on the front foot yesterday as the Grand Prix Corporation put on the hard sell to launch next year's Australian formula one race.

Bamford suggested Schumacher's retirement, perhaps, was an opportunity for formula one, rather than a negative. And the loss of the V8s from Albert Park next year, while the regrettable result of a timetable clash, could be surmounted. He said this was, after all, a formula one event, and it was the open-wheelers that drew the crowds.

"There is no change in plan. It (the GP program) is what it is. We plan to have a whole series of major events and I think F1 fans will come," Bamford said.

Regaining the slot as first race on the calendar was, said Bamford, a bonus. "It's fantastic for us to have the excitement of the build-up to the new season."

But, in the first full season without Schumacher since 1992, did Bamford expect it to be harder to sell tickets? "I think the real interest is going to be in what happens next. Can Fernando (Alonso) win a third championship? How will Kimi Raikkonen fare at Ferrari? And there will be a lot of interest in Mark Webber's debut with Red Bull Racing."

After two horrific years at Williams, Webber is looking to reignite his career with Red Bull, where he will team up with David Coulthard.

"I was relieved to get out with my life from the Williams team," Webber said of his past two seasons. "There's 550 people at Williams and no one's reputation was enhanced in the last 24 months and I was included in that."

Red Bull goes into 2007 running championship-winning Renault engines. Webber believes that with Schumacher's retirement, Alonso's move to McLaren and Raikkonen jumping into Schumacher's seat at Ferrari, the field will be shaken up.

"Kimi maybe . . . Ferrari are in very good shape and are going to start very strongly. McLaren are under a lot of pressure to give Fernando a good car, given what he has done in the past two years . . . (Heikki) Kovaleinen will be strong with Renault," Webber said.

"We have got to go out there and deliver. The Renault engine is very, very strong. We have got one of the best guys in the world, if not the best (technical chief Adrian Newey, who left McLaren for Red Bull), working on the car. We hope he can do a really, really good job and give us a good car aero-wise, a reliable piece of kit to get some good results."

· He made headlines three weeks ago when he snared pole for the Australian Champ Car race at Surfers Paradise. But Queenslander Will Power has topped that with his first podium finish in the open-wheeler series, ensuring he takes the championship's rookie-of-the-year title.

Power was third in the Team Australia car in the final round of the Champ Car World Series in Mexico City, behind three-time champion Sebastien Bourdais of France and Englishman Justin Wilson. He was the first Australian to score a podium since Geoff Brabham in 1987.

Power also won the year's Passion for Excellence Award, for the driver who completes the fastest aggregate race lap at every circuit.